


Reshuffle

by Mochas N Mayhem (KoohiiCafe)



Category: Amnesia (Game & Anime)
Genre: Because she deserves better, Diamond route, F/M, Fix-It, Multi, Polyamory, Toma's abusive and manipulative behavior is treated as just that, this is Heroine's happy ending, this is not Toma's happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-07-27 10:36:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20044576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoohiiCafe/pseuds/Mochas%20N%20Mayhem
Summary: “I- Ikki?” The voice that came over the line was soft, trembling and full of fear, and so very unlike the charming young woman he’d come to know, that it made something in Ikki’s chest tighten almost painfully. “I need your help. Please, I don’t have much time, I-”The call cut off, cutting her off mid sentence, and for a moment, the resulting silence was deafening.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, a warning; this story is _not_ for Toma fans. If you think Toma is a good boy, that he was entirely justified in his abusive and manipulative behavior towards Heroine during Diamond Route, if you think that he deserves to be forgiven and to live happily ever after with her.... this story is _not_ for you.
> 
> If you're like me, and were thoroughly disturbed and absolutely horrified by the so-called 'good' ending of Diamond Route, and you think that Heroine deserves better, then welcome. This story is my attempt to give our Heroine the kind of happy ending she actually deserves, with someone who will actually love and care for her, as well as a tribute to Kent and Ikki, both of whom I love dearly. I hope you enjoy the story!

“_I- Ikki?_” The voice that came over the line was soft, trembling and full of fear, and so very _un_like the charming young woman he’d come to know, that it made something in Ikki’s chest tighten almost painfully. His eyes turned quickly to where Waka was watching him, and he silently mouthed her name; the manager nodded, and Ikki pushed through the office door without hesitation. They were all worried for her, had been since they’d heard of her collapse at the start of the month, but Shin had been especially tense the last five days, and that had only made them worry all the more. Shin was the closest to her of all of them, and for him to show his concern so overtly…

“It’s been awhile since I’ve heard your lovely voice,” he replied, letting his voice rise with a smile that he hoped would soothe her fears. “How are you f-”

“_I need your help_,” she interrupted, and that tight feeling in his chest tightened further. “_Please, I don’t have much time, I_-”

The call cut off, cutting her off mid sentence, and for a moment, the resulting silence was deafening. Ikki pulled his phone away from his ear, staring at it, unsure of exactly what had happened. Reception in the office had never been a problem before, and he certainly hadn’t had any recent issues with his provider. His brows furrowed together, and he hit the button to call her back before her information could fade from the screen. The line rang once, before it picked up and he heard an automated voice,

“_This number may be in an area out of service, or it may be turned off._”

Ikki flipped his phone shut with a frown, his eyes narrowing. He didn’t like that she had called for his help and been cut off so quickly, didn’t like that her phone was suddenly unavailable directly after she’d called for help. Given her poor health earlier in the month, and Shin’s recent irritability, he _did not like_ the possibilities that these circumstances could mean. Slipping his phone back into his pocket, he pushed through the office door back into the kitchen, making his way to Waka’s side.

The man’s amber eyes slid to him from where he’d been watching Sawa in the dining area, a silent question in them; Ikki’s frown deepened in response.

“That was her,” he murmured softly, keeping his voice low so that it wouldn’t carry to any of the customers. “She asked for help with something, but the call dropped before she could give me any details. I wasn’t able to reach her when I called back.” He paused, and from the look in Waka’s eyes, he knew he needn't ask, but he did regardless. “Would you be alright if I left early for the day?”

“Your fan club will be disappointed,” Waka answered smoothly, and in other circumstances, Ikki was sure there would have been amusement to those words, “but Sawa and I will be fine. Go and make sure she is alright.”

“Of course.”

Then, with a nod of deference to the manager, Ikki turned and headed back into the office. He wasted no time in changing into his normal clothing, given the hastened thrum of his pulse and the influx of adrenaline from his concern for her. He borrowed a hat that one of the others had left atop the lockers, settling it on his head to cover his distinctive white hair; he took a jacket that was hanging next to them as well, one he believed belonged to Waka, and left his own hanging in return. Small changes to his appearance, but hopefully enough to throw off anyone from his fan club that might otherwise stop him on the streets. Then, his sunglasses settled into place, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed as he slipped out the cafe’s back entrance.

“_Hey_.” Shin answered after the first ring, and his voice was sharp and short as ever.

“Have you spoken to our lovely missing maid recently,” Ikki asked without preamble.

“_Don’t call her that_.” The younger man’s voice grew even sharper, if that was possible, and Ikki could imagine the look on his face, the way his red eyes would be narrowing. There was a rustling of movement in the background, and Shin added, “_I haven’t. Why are you asking?_”

“‘Lovely’ or ‘maid?’ She is both, after all,” he teased, keeping his own voice smooth and easy, belying the speed at which he moved down the street. There was no need to alarm the other man, not yet, not until he knew for sure what the situation was. “She called me just now; it seems she wanted something, but the call dropped before she could tell me what. I’m headed to her place now, but I thought you might know something about what she needed.”

The flurry of curses Shin let loose was furious enough that Ikki actually misstepped, although he caught himself before he did anything so drastic as to stumble. Immediately the sound of movement increased. Ikki increased his pace in accord, his concern only heightening at Shin’s response.

“Shin,” he said sharply, hoping to keep the other man focused. “What’s going on?”

“_Don’t bother going to her home; she’s not there_.”

“She’s not? Then where is she?” If she had gone to the hospital again, it might explain why Shin had been so tense over the last several days; Ikki liked neither the thought that she might be there, nor that Shin had not told them if she was.

Shin swore again, before asking, apropos of nothing, “_Do you know if Kent is free?_”

“He’s at the university today, studying. Why are you asking about Ken? What is going on, Shin?” He was missing something, some large part of the picture, Ikki was sure, but he didn’t know what. The furor in Shin’s voice was worrisome, and it was very clear that something was wrong even without factoring in the cut off call for help he had received. “Is she alright?”

“_No_.”

Ikki _did_ stumble this time. He caught himself on the corner of the building he had just come to, and stopped there. There was a vice in his chest, and it had a tight hold of his heart; it tightened even more painfully than before at Shin’s clear cut denial. He remembered her voice over the phone, so full of fear, and a shudder ran down his spine.

“_Call Kent. Have him meet us at the address I’m about to text you. Don’t waste time on any more questions, we need to move quickly. She’s in serious danger._”

The call ended abruptly and, scant seconds later, the phone beeped with a text. Feeling as if the very air had been forced from his lungs, Ikki opened the text, taking note of the address before forwarding it to Ken’s number immediately. He didn’t know what was going on, or why Shin was so angry and frantic, but she was the first friend he had made in years, his only true friend outside of Ken. If she was in danger, he would waste no time.

“_Why did you send me an address, Ikkyu?_” Ken’s voice was as calm as ever, the pragmatic question posed in lieu of a normal answer as he picked up the phone; it restored a bit of normalcy for Ikki.

“I need you to meet Shin and I there, as quickly as possibly. There’s something wrong, and Shin believes she’s in danger.” He didn’t have to specify who he meant; even Ken had been worried about her recently, in his own fashion.

There was a pause, and he heard a few clicks of a keyboard before Ken replied, “_I’ll see you there_,” and hung up.

Exhaling forcefully, Ikki slipped his phone into his pocket and pushed away from the building, trying to borrow some of his old friend’s practical nature as he began to walk once more. He didn’t recognize the address Shin had sent, but he knew it wasn’t far from her home, and he was thankfully already moving in that direction. He kept his head down as he moved, letting the shadow of his borrowed hat help obscure his eyes and face, and praying quietly that neither he, nor Shin or Ken, would meet with any interruptions on their way.

Time seemed to both stop, and also stretch out into eternity as he moved, and it took both forever, and no time at all before he was standing in front of the address Shin had sent him. By some strange luck, or perhaps some much needed twist of fate, Shin arrived barely a moment behind Ikki, Ken only a moment after Shin. The building itself was a standard apartment building, and Ikki was quite sure he’d never been here before. Shin, however, moved forward and opened the front door without a thought, heading down the hall inside with an air of familiarity; clearly, he _had_ been here before. Ikki exchanged a look with Ken, the older man’s gaze steady yet inquiring, his brow furrowed, and then both men followed.

“Shin,” Ikki began, needing to know more about what they were walking into, but the younger man cut him off without breaking his stride.

“Let me handle Toma.” The words were hard, Shin’s voice sharp and commanding. “I’m going to kill that bastard.”

“What does this have to do with Toma?” It was Ken who managed to ask first, his voice holding none of the confusion that Ikki knew his own would have. He didn’t understand how Toma factored into this, or why she would have been in danger if Toma was involved; he knew how much she cared for the man, and he knew that it had been Toma who had requested Waka give her time to recover.

“He’s been holding her here against her will,” Shin spat out, and Ikki’s heart froze. “He claimed it was for her own protection, but this has gone too far. If she’s called for help- I can’t let him-” He broke off, coming to a stop in front of an apartment door. Anger warred with fear on the younger man’s face as Ikki and Ken came to a halt behind him, and then he turned sharply towards the door. “You two take care of her. I’ll-”

There was a crash on the other side of the door, and all three men froze when it was followed by a scream. There was no mistaking that voice, for any of them; it was _her_.

Shin let out a guttural growl and all but _threw_ himself at the door, turning his body and charging his shoulder into it. It shuddered at the assault, but didn’t budge, even as another clatter sounded from beyond it. He pulled back to try again; again the door didn’t budge. Ikki exchanged a look with Ken and, when the younger man pulled back once more, Ikki took hold of him quickly.

“_Let me go_,” he growled, struggling against Ikki’s grasp, and Ikki shook his head.

“Ken will get the door.” It took every ounce of willpower Ikki had to hold onto Shin when they heard another cry from beyond the door, but Ken was taller than either of them, built more solidly.

“If you hurt your shoulder trying to force the door open, how will you handle Toma?” Ken added, using blunt logic; it was enough, at least, to somewhat still Shin’s struggle. Then, taking a look at the door and the wall around it- calculating the best point to apply pressure, Ikki thought- Ken shoved his shoulder into the door.

There was a loud, echoing _crack_, the sound of wood splitting and splintering, and the door fell inwards, landing on the floor beneath Ken’s feet with a loud _thud_. The scene beyond that…

“_Get your hands off of her!_”

Shin was out of Ikki’s grasp in a flash, shooting past Ken and charging Toma head on; he hit the other man like a freight train, sending both of them careening into the large cage in the corner of the room with a clatter of metal. Ikki followed behind immediately, although he paid not a moment of attention as the two began to fight. No, his eyes were for her alone; she lay on the floor mere inches from a bed, her eyes wide and full of terror, her hair fanned out beneath her like a halo. Her wrists were red, where Toma’s tight grip had only seconds before held her pinned beneath him, and there were similar marks on her bare shins. Gone were her braids and roses, the sweet dress and leggings she usually wore, and in their place she wore a pink nightgown, the sleeves shoved up her arms and the hem gathered around her thighs.

He heard her name called out in a pained cry, and only barely realized, as he rushed to her side, that it was he who’d said it. He knew, in some part of his mind, that Ken had pushed forward as well, that the older man was moving to help Shin deal with Toma, but that wasn’t a thought for now; for now, he was only concerned with her, kneeling down beside her, one hand reaching to cup her cheek, his gaze running up and down her, taking her in. Other than the marks where Toma had held her down, he could see no injuries; the vice that held his heart so painfully loosened its hold, the tiniest bit. His gaze rose once more and he locked eyes with her.

“Did he hurt you?” He kept his voice soft and soothing, suppressing the fear that gripped his heart; she needed calm right now, needed someone and something steady to hold to despite the terror that so clearly gripped her. Her breath was short and far too shallow, and he intentionally breathed louder himself, taking in long and deep breaths; as she shook her head in response, her breathing began to slow as well, her chest moving slower and a little deeper.

“N- no, he just- I-”

Another metallic sound echoed through the room as Shin and Toma tumbled into the cage again, and she broke off, her fearful eyes tearing from Ikki’s gaze to the fighting men. Ikki shifted his body, letting it block her view of the fight, and stroked a gloved thumb along her cheek to catch her attention once more.

“I’m going to pick you up and take you out of here. Is that alright?” He waited for her to nod before gently gathering her up, being careful of the hem of her nightgown as he lifted and held her to his chest. She curled up in his arms, her hands coming up to hold tightly to his jacket lapels, and she buried her face into his chest. He could feel her trembling, could feel how she flinched with every thud or grunt or groan coming from the other men, and he raised one hand to cover her other ear as he carried her from the room, blocking it all out as best he could for her. He didn’t stop moving until they’d reached the front door of the apartment building and the sounds of the fight had faded from earshot. Only then did he let his hand fall back into a more supportive position.

He waited there with her, continuing to breathe slowly and deeply, listening as she began, little by little, to match his breathing pattern. He needed to call the police, he knew, but with her in his arms, he wasn’t able to reach his phone and, given how tightly she was clinging to him, he was loath to release her. He would wait until she was ready - or until Ken or Shin did once they had dealt with Toma. Until then, he would hold her and comfort her as best he was able.

“He- they’re not going to hurt Toma, are they?” Her voice was soft, unsure, and still laced with fear, and her eyes were wide as she looked up at him. It shook him a little, that she was worried about _that_, but then… he knew her heart, knew how much she’d cared about the man before this.

“No,” he reassured her, shaking his head gently. “Shin might want to, but Ken will make sure that neither of them gets hurt.”

“Ken…” She echoed the name slowly, and it was almost a question. Before he could ask her if something was wrong, she shook her head, inhaled deeply, and slowly loosened her grip on his jacket. “I can stand.”

“Are you sure?” He searched her face for a moment, and when she nodded, he carefully lowered her to her feet. He kept a supportive arm around her as she stood, swaying just a little before she steadied herself; he wasn’t surprised when she leaned into his side, and he turned them so that her back was to the hallway and she wouldn’t see the others whenever they appeared. He would rather have taken her outside completely, but with how cold it had been all month, and what she was wearing- or not wearing, as her feet were bare- he knew it wasn’t the best idea.

“I’m going to get my phone out and make a call,” he told her, and he waited until she made a small sound of approval to actually reach for it, carefully telegraphing the move so as not to startle her. Once he had it in hand, he didn’t hesitate before dialing 110; Toma was _not_ going to get away with this.

* * *

Incapacitating Toma was, relatively, rather easy. Far more difficult, by all accounts, was incapacitating him while preventing Shin from seriously injuring him. It wasn’t that, he reflected as his gaze swept over the cage and various toys, dolls, and other things inside, he didn’t understand Shin’s reaction; he didn’t have the other brunet’s emotional volatility, nor his particularly close history with her, but the idea that Toma had been keeping her locked in a cage in his home had Kent’s pulse throbbing with anger. Hurting Toma wouldn’t fix what he’d done, however, nor would she want to see Shin brought up for assault charges himself.

That was why, for the fourth time in as many minutes, Kent found himself bodily pulling Shin away from the other man, leaving Toma sprawled atop the caved-in metal cage, breathing hard and bloodied. This time, to prevent Shin from simply jumping back on top of the man for a fifth time, Kent grabbed the front of Toma’s collar, dragged the blond onto his feet, and shoved him against the wall. When he heard Shin move behind him once more, he calmly ordered,

“Go check on Ikkyu and make sure she’s alright. Enough damage has been done here.”

Shin growled in response, and Kent braced himself for an argument. Thankfully, a moment later, he heard Shin spit on the ground, muttering, “fine. But don’t think this is over, Toma.” There was silence then, followed by the sound of footsteps heading out the door.

“You should’ve… let him… keep going…” Toma’s ragged words broke the silence, the man slumping against the wall behind him. Kent suppressed the irrational urge to sigh, his lips pursing with annoyance.

“There is no need for dramatics,” he told the other man. Keeping him pinned to the wall with one arm across his chest, Kent turned to scan the room, looking for some method to contain him. “Allowing Shin to injure you would serve no purpose save feeding his anger, and then he would be no better than you.”

No, that wasn’t entirely correct; there was a rather sizable difference between Shin beating Toma, and what Toma had done to her. The first point still held true, however, as did the fact that she would not want such a thing done for her sake.

And- there, sitting on the shelf behind the cage, lay a pair of handcuffs. Kent stretched his free arm out to take them, before turning back to Toma, his gaze hard.

“I am going to release you; you will turn around and present your wrists to me. If you do not, you will force me to do something that neither of us will enjoy.” That, also, was not entirely correct, but that was a thought Kent was unwilling to entertain.

“I won’t run away,” Toma answered, his eyes downcast, his voice empty and hollow. “It’s too late now anyway… You’ve already put her back in danger.”

_That_ did not warrant a response. Kent ignored it, and eased the pressure he was putting on Toma’s chest; when the man made no move to run, he let go entirely, turning him and taking one wrist immediately in hand. He found himself resisting the urge to force the cuffs onto Toma’s wrist as tightly as he could, although it was easier with the second than the first. With that taken care of, Kent took a moment to close his eyes, inhaling deeply, and exhaling slowly. There was something dark burning steadily in the back of his mind, a slowly simmering anger that he neither wanted, nor needed. It flared brighter as he looked at the cuffs holding Toma’s wrists, and knew that they had probably held _her_ wrists at some point in the recent past. It flared even brighter as he took hold of the links between Toma’s wrists, and used them as a handle to turn the other man and begin pushing him towards the door. When Toma misstepped, his foot hitting the edge of the cage with a loud clang, it flared brighter still. Kent pushed it down firmly, and pushed Toma from the apartment out into the hallway.

He could see Ikkyu and Shin near the end of the hall; they stood on either side of her, flanking her protectively. She was pressed into Ikkyu’s side, with his arm wrapped around her; her back was to the hallway, and she seemed to be speaking to a police officer who stood before her. On her other side, Shin was clearly agitated, his body language speaking of tension and anger; he turned as soon as Kent had guided Toma within earshot, glaring darkly at the latter.

“There he is. That’s him right there.”

She began to turn at his words, but Ikkyu pulled her closer, preventing her from looking back. Even from here, Kent could see the way she tensed, and he paused in their march down the hall. Ikkyu bent down, whispering something in her ear, and she nodded. Kent was unsurprised when he picked her up then, the officer stepping back to open the front door and let them out. Only once it had closed behind them did Kent push Toma forward again, making their way to the officer and Shin.

“This is the suspect,” the officer asked, and Kent nodded.

“Shin and I were able to subdue him when we arrived; we made our best effort not to harm him, but he was rather difficult, and attempted to chase after his victim when Ikkyu took her from the apartment. The handcuffs he’s currently wearing are his own, no doubt used on her. When you search his apartment, you’ll find a large dog cage, in which he most likely kept her confined; it was standing when we arrived, and full of toys, but it collapsed during the fight.”

“I see.” The officer’s gaze shifted, moving from Kent, to Toma, to Shin; Kent knew that his own appearance was barely ruffled, a stark contrast to the other two, both of whom were bloodied and already had bruises forming from the fight. The officers gaze returned to Kent finally, and he spoke again. “I’ll take custody of the suspect. I understand if you need to check on your friend at the moment, but you’ll need to stop by the station later to make a formal statement-”

“Yeah, whatever, we will,” Shin interrupted, and with one last, dark look to Toma, he was out the door.

“I will come to the station later this evening,” Kent assured him. “I will do my best to make sure the others do as well.”

The officer looked anything but reassured, but as Kent pushed Toma towards him, he nodded and took the blond by the arm. Kent waited just long enough to make sure the officer had nothing more to say before he too was moving out the door, leaving Toma and the apartment building behind.

The first thing to hit him as he stepped outside was the autumn-like chill that had settled over the entire month. The second was the sight of her curled up in Ikkyu’s arms in her far-too-thin nightgown, shivering slightly as she clung to the lapels of his jacket. He found his hands moving down the buckles of his coat before he was fully aware of what he was doing, undoing each one in turn so that he could slip it from his shoulders. Ikkyu arched an eyebrow at him, and the look Shin shot him was one of pure surprise, but he heeded neither man as he crossed over to Ikkyu and draped it over her shivering form.

“My, my,” Ikkyu drawled, shifting her in his arms so that he could tuck the edges of the long coat around her. “Ken, you’re being quite gentlemanly aren’t you?”

“I am simply being practical,” Kent answered, shooting his friend a look. Ikkyu merely grinned in response. “I am wearing long sleeves and will be fine without my coat; it will serve her much better, until we can get her back inside, or something warmer to wear.”

“Thank you, Ken.” Her words were soft but clear, and when he looked down at her, she had unburied her face from Ikkyu’s chest; she was looking at him now instead, and there was something like a grateful smile flitting across her lips. Kent found himself looking away without meaning to, and despite the chilly air, his cheeks felt hot.

“Since when did you call him ‘Ken?’” There was an odd look on Shin’s face, as his eyes went from her, to Kent, and back again. Then, with a shake of his head, he asked, “Are you alright? Did that bastard hurt you at all?”

“N- no.” Her voice was so quiet, that time, that Kent couldn’t help but look back to her. She had turned her head from them again, to curl closer into Ikkyu’s arms; she looked so small and frail, swathed in Kent’s coat and almost lost amidst the heavy black fabric. Her voice was muffled by Ikkyu’s chest as she continued, “he said he was protecting me, that- that it wasn’t safe outside. So he kept me in that c- cage. That was it.”

“What about when we came into the room?” Ikkyu’s voice was soft and probing, the look is his eyes tender as he watched her carefully. “You weren’t in the cage then.”

It was a scene Kent thought he might never forget, even if he wanted to; the door falling to the ground before him, revealing the interior of the small studio apartment; her, lying on the ground in her nightgown, terror in her eyes, a scream on her lips; Toma, poised above her, holding her wrists to the ground with his hand, his knees pinning her legs beneath him. That moment, between knocking down the door and Shin charging in, had seemed, against all reason, to last a lifetime, despite knowing that it had barely lasted a second in reality.

She flinched, and curled even further into Ikkyu’s arms. Illogically, Kent wanted to spare her from having to relive that moment, from having to tell them. She would have to, he knew, multiple times, if Toma was to see justice for what he had done to her. Even now, she needed to; they needed to know if he had hurt her, if she needed to be examined by a doctor. There would be no sparing her.

“He saw the phone.”

The words meant nothing to Kent, but if he were to judge by the way both Shin and Ikkyu froze, hardened even, they meant something to them. Shin growled, looking like he might turn around and go after Toma yet again, and Kent forestalled him by laying a hand on his shoulder. Ikkyu’s eyes slid closed behind his sunglasses, and stayed that way for a long moment; when they opened once more, the anger was seemingly gone, his gaze focusing tenderly upon her instead.

“What did he do when he saw the phone?”

“We should get her out of the cold.”

The look Ikkyu gave him was surprised, and, truthfully, Kent had surprised himself. He hadn’t intended to cut off the other man’s questioning, knew that they needed to know the truth, and yet… As he looked at the way she seemed to be trying to disappear into Ikkyu’s arms…

“Given the state in which we found her, she should also be examined by a doctor, even if she doesn’t believe she was injured. Any further questioning can wait until after that.”

Shin looked like he wanted to argue, but with a look down at the woman in his arms, Ikkyu nodded. “Ken’s right. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to push you.”

“It’s alright,” she whispered, and a faint smile crossed Ikkyu’s lips. He looked up to Kent, then, and Kent nodded.

“I’ll call a taxi.” And, removing his hand from Shin’s shoulder, Kent retrieved his phone to make the call. They would make sure that she was seen to, and the rest would hold.

* * *

She looked so small there in the hospital bed, asleep and awash in a sea of white, that it made something in his heart ache. They hadn’t been intending on keeping her, since the doctor who examined her had given her a clean bill of health, but she’d been exhausted by the terrors of the day, and had fallen asleep almost immediately after the examination. Now, Ikki couldn’t bear the thought of waking her and forcing her to face it all.

Ken would tell him that he was being unreasonable, that he couldn’t protect her from what had happened. He could hear his friend’s voice in his head, lecturing him over the futility of trying to keep her from the truth when she would need to face it sooner or later- sooner, really, given that she would need to give a full statement to the police about what Toma had done. Yet, in his own way, Ken had tried to shield her as well, when he had interrupted Ikki’s questions and called for the taxi.

“She’s still asleep?”

Ikki looked up to find Shin standing at the doorway, his red eyes trained on her with an unreadable expression. There was still a lingering anger that danced around the younger man like an almost visible aura; it showed in the way his arms crossed tightly over his chest, in the narrowed slit of his eyes, the stiffness with which he held himself as he moved into the room. Ikki stood easily, relinquishing the room’s only chair to him.

“How did you know,” he asked, rather than answer the question. He’d been thinking about it since he’d returned from making his statement to the police, thinking about it the whole time Shin had been gone making _his_ statement. How had Shin known that Toma was keeping her captive? And if he’d known, why had he waited until Ikki called to do something about it?

Shin made a noise of what might have been frustration- or perhaps just more anger- as he took the seat Ikki had vacated. He was silent for a moment as he reached to the bed to take her limp hand, holding it gently between his own. When he did speak, it was without looking away from her, with a tone that was too sharp and angry.

“I knew he had her staying with him because of the harassment she was dealing with, because I found her there last week when I went looking for her. I just never thought that he would-” He broke off, swearing under his breath, his eyes sliding closed. As angry as his tone was, as stiff as his body language was, his hold of her hand was never anything short of gentle, though.

“Harassment?” Ikki’s eyes narrowed. Someone had been harassing _her_? “What do you mean? What was going on?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know,” Shin replied, the derision clear in his voice. Something inside Ikki’s chest went cold, and there was a flare of anger. Surely Shin didn’t mean- “It’s your fan club that’s behind it, after all. They’ve been doing it all month; leaving shit in her mailbox, plastering her apartment door with threats and lies, spreading her information on the internet, making up all kinds of nasty rumors…”

Anger, for many, was a hot thing, a fire that burned everything it touched, consumed everything around it. That was certainly how Shin experienced it, with how sharp and barbed be had been all day, with the way he had charged at and beaten Toma. Shin’s anger, his fire, was a double-edged flame that burned both the subject of his wrath, and Shin himself. What Ikki felt in his heart at that moment, however…

The anger that stole over Ikki now was ice, creeping over him slowly but steadily, a crystalizing rage that hardened his heart.

“I see.”

Something in his tone, as flat as it was, got Shin’s attention, dragging the other man’s gaze away from her to look at Ikki himself. For a long moment, the room was engulfed in silence; Shin stared hard at Ikki; Ikki’s gaze remained focused on her.

“You really didn’t know, did you?” Shin scoffed, and looked back to her once more. “That bastard said he was gathering evidence so he could prove exactly who was harassing her; it was the only reason I didn’t take her with me that night. I thought- it doesn’t matter what I thought, I _never_ should have left her there with him.”

“Who could have known that he of all people would do something like that to her?” The man who, much to her despair, had seen her as a younger sister for all her life. The man she had harbored such deep feelings for, who she had hoped so desperately to get to see her as the woman she had bloomed so beautifully into. Instead, he had utterly betrayed her, had terrorized and abused her, had taken advantage of her when she was so terribly vulnerable.

And it was Ikki himself who had made her so vulnerable.

Ikki inhaled deeply, his eyes sliding closed as he held the breath for a long moment, pushing aside the anger and disgust welling within him. As he slowly exhaled, he focused himself. He would deal with the fan club later. His primary concern for now was her.

“I assume that she wouldn’t be safe in her home right now.”

Shin snorted, shaking his head. “There’s not a chance in hell I would let her stay there.”

“Then we’ll find someplace safe for her,” Ikki said, running through the possibilities in his mind. His own home was, of course, not a choice; not only was it not worth thinking about, having her stay in a single man’s home, Rika also knew where he lived.

“She can stay with me.” The words were neither an offer nor a suggestion, but a statement. Ikki shook his head regardless.

“You’re her oldest friend, Shin, and having her stay with you is an obvious choice. Also, unless I’m mistaken, isn’t your home rather close to her own?” He arched an eyebrow at the other man inquiringly; Shin scowled, but sighed and nodded.

“Yeah.” His voice was curt, and it was clear he wasn’t happy with the thought, even as he agreed. “If I thought Sawa would stand a chance at protecting her, I’d ask her, but-”

“The fan club clearly wouldn’t hesitate to hurt a woman,” Ikki cut in darkly- not if they had been harassing her for the crime of simply being his friend.

“I wouldn’t be able to stay with her there either.” In other words, Shin didn’t intend on leaving her side for the night. Ikki understood the sentiment perfectly, even if he wasn’t as close to her the younger man.

“My parents’ home has a guest bedroom in which she could stay.”

Ikki and Shin both looked up in surprise as Ken stepped into the room. Rolling the idea around in his head for a moment, Ikki nodded. “That’s a good idea. Noone would think to look for her there. Knowing your parents, they wouldn’t mind having a guest either.”

“It would be a simple matter to up our usual catering order for however long she stays,” Ken agreed, his eyes resting upon her sleeping figure. There was an odd look on his face, although Ikki doubted anyone else would notice it, or that he himself was even aware of it. His gaze was almost…. Tender? No, that wasn’t quite the right word for it. Soft… or at least softer than his usual studious facade. It threw Ikki a little. Did Ken…

“Just know that if she’s staying with you, then I am too,” Shin said firmly, his tone brooking absolutely no argument. “I let her down before, but I won’t this time. I won’t trust anyone else to take care of her.”

“That is acceptable, if unnecessary.” If Ken was at all perturbed by Shin’s outright distrust, it didn’t show in his voice or expression. “If you insist on staying as well, there is a couch on which you may sleep.” He turned, looking over at Ikki then, and added with an almost teasing tone, “Should I expect to host you as well, Ikkyu?”

“No.” Ikki should his head, and couldn’t quite help the angry press of his lips before he added, “I have some… business… I need to attend to. I’ll be over tomorrow though- you both have to work, don’t you?”

Judging by the angry curse Shin let out, and the way Ken frowned, Ikki’s memory served correct, and both men had forgotten. Not that Ikki blamed them; all three of them had been thrown by the events of the day, to a distressing degree. He couldn’t imagine what it was like for her. Ikki sighed and put the thought from his mind. He _did_ have business to attend to, and he intended to see to it before the day was through.

Stepping up to her bedside- and studiously ignoring the way both Shin and Ken were looking at him- Ikki gently brushed her hair away from her cheek. She was so innocent, so sweet and full of fire, and she had been hurt so deeply, by someone she loved and trusted. And that had happened because of circumstances that were of Ikki’s own making.

“I’ll make this right,” he swore. Then, leaning down to lay a chaste kiss on her forehead, Ikki turned and walked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure how long this story will be (_probably not terribly long_), but I'll try to get more out sooner. Writing this is the most I've written in awhile, and it feels really good to have done it. ^__^
> 
> Also, many, _many_ thanks to my wife, [Gyhl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gyhl), who has had to listen to me ramble and rave about Amnesia: Memories since before I even finished playing it. She is my beta (_although any and all typos and errors belong solely to me_) and the one who keeps cheering me on, and I'm _pretty sure_ I've managed to get her shipping things solely by forcing her to listen to me giggle and share caps and things with her.
> 
> If you're on tumblr, you can find me at [MakethWoman](http://makethwoman.tumblr.com). I'm not on there much lately, but feel free to come say hi!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She woke to the phantom feeling of a kiss on her forehead, and low voices speaking over her, one familiar, one not. Her brows furrowed slightly, although she didn’t open her eyes yet, too unsure, because- she wasn’t in the cage anymore, she was- on a bed?
> 
> ‘_It’s alright, you’re safe finally!_’

She woke to the phantom feeling of a kiss on her forehead, and low voices speaking over her, one familiar, one not. Her brows furrowed slightly, although she didn’t open her eyes yet, too unsure, because- she wasn’t in the cage anymore, she was- on a bed? How-

‘_It’s alright, you’re safe finally!_’ Orion’s voice was warm and soothing; his words eased a tight feeling in her chest that she hadn’t realized was there, and her eyes fluttered open, blinking rapidly as the dim light of the room washed over her.

The hospital, that was right. Shin had come to rescue her, with Ikki and… Ken? (_Kent? Ikki had called him ‘Ken,’ but hadn’t there been a ‘Kent’ in her phone contacts? And Shin had looked at her oddly when she called him ‘Ken.’_) They’d brought her here afterwards, even when she’d told them she was fine, and the doctor had looked her over and- she’d fallen asleep. Her cheeks flushed at the realization that she’d fallen asleep as if she were a child, but a voice spoke up before she could worry too much over it.

“You’re finally awake? Took you look enough.” Shin was sitting to just one side of the bed, the chair pulled as close to the bed as it could get. He seemed to realize that he was holding her hand at the same time she did; she felt her face get even hotter as he quickly let go, pushing the chair away with a screech.

“I’m sorry,” she said, pulling her hand back onto the bed. She didn’t look up at either man as she pushed herself up and into the sitting position. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep and make you wait on me.”

‘_Hey, you’ve had a long day,_’ Orion started, but his voice was overlapped with a deeper one coming from near the foot of the bed.

“Such a reaction is perfectly reasonable when one is subject to the kind of stress you have been under today.” Ken’s (_Kent’s? She was almost certain he was actually ‘Kent’_) face was a mask, giving nothing away as he nudged his glasses higher up his nose, his green eyes focused steadily on her. The look he was giving her felt intense, and she felt almost like a slide under a microscope, like he could somehow see right through her. She had a sudden (_very silly, really_) thought that if she looked over at Orion when he was looking at her that hard, he would even be able to see the spirit. “The doctor who examined you found no injuries on your person, so if you feel that you have rested sufficiently-”

“She has,” Shin interrupted, pushing himself up to stand. “I know Ikki charmed the nurse into letting us stay for awhile, but now that she’s awake, we should get out of here.” He reached down, lifting a bag that had been sitting on the floor next to the chair, and dropped it onto the bed beside her. “I brought some clothes from your place. Get changed, and we’ll be out in the hall waiting for you.”

Then, without waiting for a response, he was moving towards the door, ushering Kent out first, then following and shutting it behind him. She blinked owlishly at the closed door for a moment; it wasn’t until Orion floated into her field of view that she shook her head and turned her attention to the bag of clothes.

‘_He’s just worried about you_,’ the spirit told her, a small smile on his face. ‘_They all are; Ikki left a little while ago to take care of something, but at least one of them has been in here with you ever since you fell asleep_.’

‘_I really _didn’t _mean to fall asleep,_’ she thought back to him as she rifled through the bag for clothes. ‘_I’m sure they have better things to do than watch me take a nap._’ She found a clean dress and a pair of leggings and pulled them from the bag; Orion turned around as she hurriedly began to change.

‘_I think you’re underestimating how much you mean to them,_’ he replied, and even without seeing his face, she could hear his smile. ‘_I know we just met Kent-_’

‘_So it is ‘Kent?_’’

‘_That’s what Shin called him! And I know we just met him, but- even he really seems to care about you. When you first fell asleep, he spent a while talking to the doctor, asking lots of questions to make sure you were okay._’

‘_You can look_,” she told Orion as she finished dressing. Then, pulling the bag up again to look for shoes- ah, there!- she tried to imagine the scene the spirit had painted; Kent, back in his big, intimidating coat, towering over the little doctor who’d examined her, asking him question after question after question, giving him that same intense look he’d given her just a few minutes ago. It was enough to make her giggle a little as she laid the shoes down on the floor and stepped into them, then dropped her nightgown into the bag.

‘_It’s good to hear you laugh again._’ The look Orion was giving her was almost sad, and it made her want to hug him. ‘_After everything that happened this week… and I couldn’t do anything to help you…_’

‘_I told you,_’ she reminded him, keeping the tone of her thoughts as firm as she could manage, ‘_you _did_ help me. You were here with me through everything, and you helped me have hope despite it all._’

As for everything that had actually happened… she didn’t want to think about it, not yet. Maybe she would have to eventually, but it hurt still, too much. She’d trusted Toma, and she had a horrible feeling that she’d loved him, back before she and Orion collided and she lost all her memories, and he’d still-

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts, followed by Shin’s voice, “Are you done yet?”

“I’m coming,” she called and, with a firm nod to herself and Orion, she grabbed the bag and moved to the door, opening it and stepping out. Shin was leaning against the wall beside the door, all attitude, and Kent was standing opposite him, arms folded over his chest, the picture perfect of patience. She looked between them, hesitant, and asked, “Do I need to check out?”

“Not at all.” It was Kent who answered, shaking his head. “As you were not formally admitted for anything other than a basic examination, there is no paperwork required for you to leave. If you had not been so exhausted by the day, we could have left as soon as the examination was over.”

“Alright. I’m ready, but… where are we going?” She knew she sounded unsure, but then, she _felt_ unsure. Thinking of her apartment just reminded her of the way it had been when she last visited, the things both Toma and Orion had described; horrible things in her mailbox, sticky and obscene fluids dripping down the front of it, still staining Toma’s hands; her front door papered with the same kinds of horrible threats and rumors that had been in her email. She couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of going there and having to face it all.

“Kent volunteered to let you stay at his parents’ house,” Shin told her, and her eyes went round in surprise. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it wasn’t _that_. He continued on, pushing away from the wall as he spoke, “I’ll be staying too; I’m not going to leave you alone again.”

She looked at him then, her gaze softening. She didn’t know if Kent could see it, and she didn’t think Shin would want _any_one to see it, but she _could_. There was so much guilt there, hiding beneath his curt words and anger. He hadn’t wanted to leave her there, that night, but Toma hadn’t given him a choice… hadn’t given either of them a choice. Before she could think twice about it, she reached out and took one of his hands in hers, squeezing it gently.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice as soft and warm as she could make it. “Thank you for coming for me when you did. If you hadn’t-”

“You should’ve called me, idiot,” Shin said sharply, cutting her off and pulling his hand away. His cheeks had gone pink, though, and he wasn’t looking at her; she didn’t think he was really angry at her- or least, she hoped he wasn’t. “Instead you called Ikki, of all people. What if he hadn’t called me to ask about you? I was the one who knew where you were. I was the one who left you with that bastard.”

‘_It wasn’t her fault! She didn’t have much time to decide!_’ The look Orion was giving Shin, the tone of the spirit’s voice, were righteous and protective, and it took some of the sting out of Shin’s angry words. Not that Shin could hear him, of course, but _she _could, and she gave Orion a quick, grateful look.

“Perhaps,” Kent’s calm voice cut in, causing both she and Shin to look towards him, “this conversation can wait until we are somewhere less public? I have already sent in a request for a taxi, and we should head to the meeting point so that we do not miss it when it arrives.”

“Of course,” she answered quickly, flushing herself. “I’m sorry Kent. Let’s go.”

* * *

Something was wrong with her. Something beyond the obvious, that was, since their ‘big brother’ had apparently gone completely insane in less than a week’s time, and had held her prisoner against her will; that would affect anyone, much less her, but… There was something _more _than that wrong.

He had seen it in the way she looked at both Ikki and Kent earlier in the day, almost like she hadn’t recognized them. He hadn’t forgotten the way she’d even called Kent by the wrong name, cause that had been weird. She was being quieter than usual, acting more timid than she ever had before, apologizing more in the span of a single day than he could remember her apologizing in years, and. Well, yeah, part of that probably had to do with Toma losing his fucking mind and locking her in a cage- and hell, if he ever got his hands on that bastard again; why hadn’t Kent just _let him deal with him_\- but that couldn’t be all there was to it. Not when she also kept spacing out, staring off into thin air sometimes; more than once, he would’ve sworn that she was talking to herself.

No, there was something wrong, and she was trying to hide it. He had already seriously failed her once, and he wasn’t about to do so again; he needed to figure out what was going on, preferably tonight- or at least before he had to go into work tomorrow. He had his suspicions, based on something Toma had said after her hospital visit earlier in the month, and the way she’d been behaving today; all he needed now was to get a moment alone with her to confirm them.

“I have a pillow and sheets for your use; if you become cold, or otherwise wish for more bedding, there are blankets and sheets located in the closet beside the guest bedroom. If you become hungry, the kitchen is through the door to your left; there are a number of pre-prepared meals in the refrigerator that you are welcome to.” Kent’s words were matter-of-fact as he set the bedding he’d brought onto the couch and stepped back. 

“Got it.” Shin had heard most of this once already, since he’d given roughly the same spiel to her when he settled her into the guest room, and he nodded curtly in acknowledgement. “Anything else I should know?”

“My parents have already retired for the evening, although they were thrilled to hear that we have company.” Kent paused then, the pause drawing Shin’s eyes back to him, and- did Kent look… embarrassed? No way, he had to be imagining that. “You will most likely meet them in the morning; my mother is particularly excited to play host, and she will likely insist on a large breakfast.”

Shin tried to imagine that for a moment. He hadn’t really interacted with Kent much outside of their (_somewhat rare_) joint shifts at the cafe, and he certainly hadn’t met the man’s parents, but he couldn’t imagine they were all that different from Kent himself. What did excitement even look like on Kent?

Yeah no, he couldn’t picture it, not even the tiniest bit. Thankfully, Kent continued on, oblivious to Shin’s confusion.

“If you need anything else, I will be in my lab for the rest of the evening; it is down this hall, the last door to the right. I have fallen behind in my work, and there is much I must do before the day is over.”

And, with only a last nod to Shin, Kent was gone. That suited Shin just fine, since it left him free to go talk to her. He left the bedding on the couch where Kent had set it, padding quietly down the hall that led to the guest room. He stopped before the door when he reached it, bracing himself before he knocked.

“I’m coming in,” he called without waiting for her to respond, and reached for the door handle. He could hear her moving inside as he turned the handle; when she didn’t protest, or otherwise try to keep him from opening the door, he pushed it open and stepped inside.

She was sitting on the bed on top of the covers, still in the dress and leggings she’d changed into at the hospital, and her eyes were wide and innocent as she looked at him. Her hair was still down and free, as it had been when they’d found her; it was weird, seeing her without her usual braids, and he wasn’t sure he liked that she hadn’t fixed it. Even if it was nothing more than a product of how terrible a day it had been, it was just another thing that felt wrong.

“Is everything alright?” Her gaze flitted to the door, as he shut it behind him, then back to him as he moved to the foot of the bed. He didn’t answer immediately; instead, he pinned her there on the bed with his gaze, his eyes narrowing. She shifted in place, seemingly unsure. “Shin?”

“I told you to call me if anything happened.” He knew his voice was sharp, biting, but he made no attempt to hold back his anger. He refused to think about what could have happened if Ikki hadn’t thought to call him- what Toma could have done to her, simply because she hadn’t listened to him.

Her eyes skipped away from him, moving to some arbitrary point to just one side, before her gaze dropped. Her voice was soft as she told him, “I’m sorry.”

Shin scoffed. He didn’t want her apologies, he wanted the truth. As she clearly wasn’t going to give it to him willingly, he was going to have to pry it out of her, one way or another.

“Tomorrow’s my birthday, you know. Do you have _any idea_ what kind of birthday it would have been if I’d found out that our so-called ‘big brother’ had murdered you after I left you alone with him?”

The words were smooth, without any trace of the inherent lie of them in his voice, and his tone was as sharp as it had ever been. He stared her down, his eyes narrowed as he watched for even the slightest reaction, the _slightest _hint that she knew that his birthday wasn’t for another three months. Instead, she seemed to withdraw into herself, shaking her head quickly.

“I- I called Ikki because his name came up first on my phone,” she protested, and at least there was a little of that fire to her voice that was uniquely _her_, even if only for that moment. Even as her protest confirmed his fears. “The battery was almost dead, and I only had a moment to decide what to do. Ikki was the last person who had texted me, so I just hit the ‘call’ button.”

She met his gaze then, her gaze steadier than it had been since she’d woken up, since they’d taken her from Toma’s place. There was a not-quite-defiance in her eyes that he recognized, but it didn’t change the facts.

He met her gaze steadily, letting the silence between them grow. Then, when she began to shift nervously, he told her, his voice flat,

“My birthday isn’t until November 30th.”

Her eyes went wide and round, and something that wasn’t-quite-fear chased away the near-resolution that had been there for those long, silent moments. She inhaled shakily, staring at him, and he shook his head, cutting off any excuse she might try and offer.

“Back when you first got out of the hospital, Toma said that your memories were hazy. He was supposed to take you back, if things weren’t back to normal within two to three days. He never did, did he.” It was a statement, despite the way it was phrased. If Toma had, they wouldn’t be here where they were now. She wouldn’t have ended up trapped in a cage in Toma’s apartment, and they wouldn’t be hiding out at Kent’s place while Toma was locked up in a cell.

“_I don’t want to go to the hospital_,” she said quickly, her eyes still wide, and the undercurrent of fear in her voice ignited every damn protective instinct Shin had. “Please, _don’t- _don’t force me to go back there.”

Shin swore inwardly, furiously, because the way she’d phrased it… Asking him not to _force_ her to go… If he went against her wishes now, if he _forced _her to go to the hospital, even for her own good… How did that make him any better than Toma?

It was, quite possibly, the only argument that could have possibly convinced him not to take her there immediately.

“How much have you forgotten?” He kept his voice flat, and he kept his eyes pinned on her, leaving her absolutely no room to hem, haw, or otherwise dance around the subject. “Tell me the truth, or I’ll call a cab and take you to the hospital right now.”

“I’m remembering- more and more,” she said haltingly, her eyes darting from him to look off to one side again- the same spot as before, he noted, although he wasn’t sure what exactly that meant. He gave her a _look_, and she hurried to continue. “At first I didn’t remember anything, but- I remember- when we were children… and I remember talking to Ikki, and-”

Shin exhaled, sharply, and she cut off, looking up at him with those eyes. He looked away for a moment, needing that moment to take in what she’d just revealed. She’d forgotten so much that she hadn’t even remembered their _childhood_ at first. And instead of taking care of her when she was in such a vulnerable state, instead of getting her help… Toma had locked her in a cage and told _no one_.

He took another moment, one solely dedicated to locking down the rage roaring through his heart, because the last thing he needed right now was to frighten her even more than she already clearly was. He would deal with how badly that bastard had wronged her… later. For now… He needed to take care of _her_.

“Please don’t take me back to the hospital.” Her voice was a plea, interrupting the silence that had fallen between them, and she spoke quickly, her words stumbling over each other. “When they kept me there after my fall, I felt like- like I could only get worse. Just laying in that bed, hardly any company, no stimulation… Nothing to help me remember everything I’ve lost. I don’t want to go back to that, or be tra- trapped somewhere again.”

He hated the way the trembling of her voice struck him like an almost physical pain. Hated how clearly terrified she was, terrified of something that should have been perfectly benign, perfectly _normal_. He swore silently, vividly, with _feeling_\- and let none of it show. Instead, with a steadying, deep breath, he promised her,

“I won’t make you go back.” His voice was still sharp, however, as he pinned her once more with his gaze, and continued, “But you have to _promise_ me that you’ll be completely honest with me from here on out. No more secrets. Do you understand?”

Her relief was palpable, the air between them thick with it, as she nodded quickly, and promised in return,

“No more secrets.”

“Good,” he said shortly, and nodding sharply, he stepped back towards the bedroom door. “Get some rest. We’ll talk again in the morning.”

After he had had some time to sort through all of this in his head, and to get a better grasp on everything she’d told him. After he’d had a chance to talk to Kent and Ikki about it all as well, as he had a feeling the four of them were bound inexorably together by everything that had happened that day.

Then, waiting only long enough for her to nod her obedience, Shin opened the door and slipped out to be alone with his thoughts.

* * *

While he wasn’t sure exactly what time it was when his phone rang, he knew it was long after the hours any normal person would have called another. Not that that had ever stopped Ikkyu in the past, as the other man had never had any compunctions calling him at all hours, but it _did_ give Kent a good idea of what state Ikkyu was likely to be in. Suppressing an irritated sigh- the day they had been through made it somewhat understandable, and not at all surprising- Kent flipped his phone open and answered shortly,

“How soon should I expect you to be at the door?”

“_I said I’d be by tomorrow, didn’t I? And I always keep my word. Technically, it’s already tomorrow._”

No sooner had Ikkyu finished speaking than Kent could hear a distant knocking at the front door. This time he didn’t hold back his frustrated exhalation. Even as he loosed it, however, he was already pushing up from his computer and striding quickly down the hall towards the front door, hoping to forestall any further knocking that might wake either of his guests, or his parents. He managed to reach the front door by the sixth knock, unlocking it and pulling it open without delay; he watched with mild amusement as, going to knock a seventh time and, finding the door suddenly gone, Ikkyu stumbled drunkenly over the threshold and just barely caught himself on the door frame.

“_Ken!_” The younger man made a face that was most likely meant to be a grin, but Kent could only read as a drawn out grimace, and then he let go of the door frame to latch onto Kent instead. Kent tried to evade with a quick step back, but as always, drunk or not, Ikkyu was rather skilled at getting his hands on the object of his desire; at the moment, apparently, that was Kent himself, and much to his distaste, he ended up with a rather clingy Ikkyu-shaped attachment.

“_Ikkyu_…” The word was a drawn out sigh, and his eyes slid closed as he took a moment to gather as much of his patience as he could. He had a feeling he would need all of it before the night was through. “If you would keep your voice down, in addition to my parents, there are guests in the house who have already gone to sleep.”

“_Oh_,” the other man said, this time in a loud stage whisper. “_Right_, sorry. I’ll be _quiet as a mouse_.”

Rolling his eyes, Kent simply wrapped an arm around his friend to keep him upright, and- after a brief deliberation about what exactly he was going to do with the other man- led him carefully through the house towards his own room. Any other night, he would have led him to the guest bedroom, but it was- regrettably- already occupied, as was the couch, which left…

“Be aware that, should you decide to stay the entire night, you will be sleeping on the floor,” he warned his friend flatly, keeping his own voice low as they moved down the hallway past the guest bedroom door. He had no intentions of giving up his own bed simply because Ikkyu had gone drinking and, as he often did, had done so in excess.

They reached his bedroom door before Ikkyu could compose a response and, after a moment of shifting, Kent managed to get a hand free enough to open it and lead the other man through. For his part, Ikkyu went willingly enough, leaning heavily into Kent’s side as the taller man closed the door behind them. Then, without waiting for Kent, Ikkyu pulled forward to collapse almost bonelessly on top of Kent’s bed, pulling Kent along with him.

Futilely, Kent tried to resist, tried to pull free of the younger man’s grasp, but as usual, a drunken Ikkyu was a relentlessly stubborn and clingy Ikkyu; the best he could manage was to arrange them both in a sitting position, Ikkyu all but cuddling into his side, rather than laying down fully as Ikkyu had first tried for. Suppressing another sigh, Kent pushed his glasses up and pinched at the bridge of his nose with his free hand, gathering his patience once more, before asking,

“Where have you been? You mentioned before you left the hospital that you had some ’business’ to attend to, but I fail to see how that business led to such heavy drinking.”

Usually, when Ikkyu drank himself into a stupor the way he had tonight, it was due to his brooding over his ‘condition,’ and the ways in which it affected his life. But while Kent wasn’t entirely surprised that the stress of rescuing her from a literal cage in their former coworker’s home had led to some drinking, he couldn’t say he had expected it to get quite this bad.

“I was speakening to my fan club,” the younger man answered, his words slurring and slightly muffled due to their position, and Kent frowned. What did the fan club have to do with anything that had happened today?

“Do you mean ‘speaking,’” he replied, unable to resist the urge to mock his friend at least a little over the drunken mispronunciation.

“Tha’s what I _said_,” Ikkyu protested, “‘_speakening_.’” There was a pause, as if Ikkyu had realized his error, but then he continued on blithely. “We had a very long combers- conbert- _conversation_.”

“What, exactly, did you discuss with them?” Experience held that most of the women in Ikkyu’s fan club were not the type for any kind of intellectual conversation; more often, they spent their time gawking at his friend and being excessively loud while chittering about absolutely nothing at all. It was not the kind of conversation that either Kent _or _Ikkyu normally enjoyed.

“We talked _all_ about what they did.”

The sudden change in Ikkyu’s voice was abrupt enough that it threw Kent, and he found himself pulling away so that he could look at his friend’s face. The fact that the younger man let him, that he didn’t continue clinging closely to his side, threw Kent even more. _Rarely_ was Ikkyu so grim when he got into this kind of state, and even more rarely was he willing to let Kent escape his grasp when he felt so clingy. For him to sound so cold now, so _angry_, meant something- but what that something was, Kent wasn’t sure.

“What did they do?” His own voice remained calm, even as uncertain of his friend’s mood as he was; his brows furrowed together as he tried to piece together a puzzle for which he had not all the pieces.

“It was surprisingly easy to get a confession,” Ikkyu said, and laughed bitterly. He didn’t look up at Kent, but neither did he make any effort to evade the older man’s gaze. “I didn’t even have to sweet talk them that much. I gave Rika a charming smile, a look from these eyes of mine; I told her I wasn’t mad, that I just wanted the truth, and. _Voila_. _Magic_.”

“_Ikkyu_,” he started, his frown deepening, but the other man cut him off shortly, his voice ice cold.

“_They’re_ the reason Toma had her locked up. The reason he was ‘protecting’ her.”

The missing puzzle piece slotted into place with a disturbing kind of ease. Something deep within Kent’s chest flared sharply- _brightly_\- and his eyes narrowed as he considered the picture in full.

“The fan club,” Kent said, his voice flat, and Ikkyu nodded, laughing without a trace of humor.

“They’ve been harassing her for over- over a _month _now, and I didn’t have a _damned_ clue. I only found out because Shin told me at the hospital, right before you came back.”

He remembered, now, the odd look that had been on the other man’s face as he’d declared that he had ‘business’ to attend to. He hadn’t been sure what to make of it then, nor had he thought too much on it; at the time, it had been more important to call his parents and make arrangements to bring she and Shin back to his home once she awoke. Now, however, he could see it for what it had been; anger, and something darker, something that Kent didn’t quite know the word for.

Ikkyu shifted beside him, the movement catching his attention; he had just enough time to catch his friend by his shoulder, pressing him back down to sit, where he had been trying to stand.

“Where are you going?” he asked, arching an eyebrow, even as he was fairly sure of the answer.

“I need another drink,” Ikkyu muttered darkly, but he didn’t try to rise again.

“I believe you have had enough to drink,” Kent replied, and Ikkyu snorted, the sound sharp and pained, and shook his head.

“Don’t you get it, Ken? _I’m_ the reason she ended up locked in a cage as if she were a dog, held captive by the man she _loves_.” He laughed again, and even Kent, as unfamiliar and unused to emotions as he was, could hear the self-loathing in his friend’s voice. “Because she _loves_ Toma. That was why she’d been spending time with me; she was looking for advice, someone who knew how to handle the opposite sex, somehow who could help her make Toma see her as a woman, and not just a little sister. So there she was, possibly the only woman on the planet who came to me not because of my eyes, not because she wanted me, but as a _friend_… and the curse of my eyes got to her anyway- just in a new, even worse way than usual.”

Silence fell between them as Kent processed what Ikkyu had revealed. He had known, in a distant, detached way, that Ikkyu had been spending more time with her than usual for the last few months; he had also known that it had not been because they were dating, as Ikkyu had quickly dismissed that notion when Kent had asked at one point. Beyond that, however, Kent hadn’t put any thought into the matter; as it had affected neither their work at the cafe, nor his relationship with Ikkyu, he had no need to overly think on the subject.

(If he was honest with himself, he hadn’t _wanted_ to put any further thought into the matter; every time he _had_ thought of it, he’d found his thoughts going strangely astray, focusing on her new close association with his friend far more than was warranted. So he had set the matter aside, assuming that it had something to do with the fan club, and he hadn’t let himself be concerned about it any further than that.)

Except, according to Ikkyu, it had nothing to do with that at all. She had gone to Ikkyu as a _friend_. She’d gone to him looking for advice about love, love for the very man who had turned around and utterly betrayed her. All because Ikkyu’s fan club had taken it upon themselves to harass her for the crime of being Ikkyu’s friend.

“You are not accountable for whatever actions the fan club members may have taken,” Kent said, and he was almost surprised at how even his voice remained. There was a dark storm of roiling emotions swirling within his chest, and he pushed them down as firmly as he could; he knew neither what, exactly, all of those dark, sharply edged feelings meant, nor how exactly to handle them, and so he didn’t. He focused, instead, on his friend, who was clearly struggling himself. “Neither are you responsible for Toma’s betrayal and abuse of her. The only ones responsible for anything that was done to her are those who committed the actions themselves.”

“How can you say that so easily?” Ikkyu’s voice was both bitter and pleading; Kent imagined that, were other man to look up, the look in his eyes would be the same. He didn’t look up, however, only leaned back into Kent’s side, and for the first time in memory, Kent didn’t attempt to prevent him from doing so. “You’ve seen first hand the effect my eyes have on women, even if you can’t explain it scientifically. If it weren’t for that, then the fan club-”

“The effect of your eyes is temporary, and lasts only as long as a woman looks into them.” Kent kept his voice firm, even as he knew that it would make little difference to his friend in Ikkyu’s current state. This was not a new discussion between them, but rather one they had had numerous times when Ikkyu drank himself into this kind of stupor. “Even if you count the actions a woman takes while under the effect of your eyes as your responsibility, that would not include actions taken while apart from you. As I highly doubt you were present and looking into their eyes while the fan club took actions against her, logic dictates that their actions are not your responsibility.”

“Dammit, it’s not that simple, it’s-” the younger man started, and Kent cut him off smoothly.

“If you will not believe it when I say it, then I suggest you ask her. I believe she would agree with me.”

Ikkyu froze beside him, and Kent suppressed the urge to smirk at having caught him out. It wasn’t a bluff, as he truly believed that she would agree with him, but he highly doubted that Ikkyu would be willing to broach the topic with her. That left his friend with one choice; to accept Kent’s own words. Silence fell between them for a moment, Ikkyu seemingly at a loss for a response, and it was over a minute later when he felt his friend relax into his side.

“I hate you sometimes,” Ikkyu mumbled, the words muffled into Kent’s side. This time, Kent let himself a smirk, even knowing Ikkyu couldn’t see it.

“If that is settled, I believe it would behoove you to get some rest. Let go, and I will get some spare blankets for you.”

“Nope,” Ikkyu answered, and before Kent could process the refusal, the younger man had snaked both his arms around him, latching on to him tightly.

“_Ikkyu_,” he started, his tone low and threatening. Ikkyu simply laughed; for the first time since he’d stumbled through the door, it was a light sound, untinged by bitterness or anger.

“Not sleeping on the floor. Your bed will do just fine.”

And then, unheeding of the fact that both of them were still fully dressed, Ikkyu _pulled_. A moment later, with a surprising amount of strength given his level of intoxication, he’d yanked them both into a lying position atop the bed. A moment after that, he’d practically entwined both his arms _and_ legs with Kent’s own, pinning the taller man into place regardless of Kent’s attempts to free himself. A moment after _that_? Ikkyu was gone, sliding into sleep and leaving Kent trapped in his grasp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I got stuck on Shin's section for far too long, but! Here it finally is, and I hope you enjoyed! I'm navigating this story without a clear roadmap, but I'll do my best to get more chapters out as soon as I can.
> 
> (Also, Ikki's drunken mispronunciation comes straight from the wife. XD They verbally typoed the word 'speaking' while looking over that section of the story for me, and. Well, what can I say, I just _had_ to stick it in the fic itself. XD I am a mean, horrible wife who teases her loved one relentlessly, haha.)

**Author's Note:**

> Eternal thanks to my wife, [Gyhl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gyhl), who listens to me rant, ramble, and rave about _Amnesia: Memories_, and about my fic. They pretty much beta everything for me, and act as a touchstone for all my anxiety and worries about my writing!
> 
> If you're on tumblr, you can find me at <s>_[MakethWoman](http://MakethWoman.tumblr.com)_</s> [PanickedPansexualPrincess](http://PanickedPansexualPrincess.tumblr.com).


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